Structures

Koordinaatti is one of the national youth work centres of expertise that were appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture for years 2018-2019. Centres are funded by the Ministry. The work of the centres is based on the National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme.

National coordination of youth information and counselling began in 2006 under the auspices of City of Oulu’s Centre of Youth Affairs. In 2010, Koordinaatti was appointed one of the national service and development centres for youth work.

In addition to the points mentioned above, changes in society - such as the Act on Restructuring Local Government and Services as well as national and European recommendations and development programmes in the youth sector - provided guidelines for the creation of the permanent structure.

In 2006, there were fewer than 30 bodies providing youth information and counselling services. Nowadays, the service network contains more than 190 municipalities or NGOs. Services can be either face-to-face services in different operating environments or web-based local or regional services.

The significant increase in youth information and counselling services, and the consequent need to develop quality services in response to young people’s information and advice needs, have been challenging tasks for national coordination. Existing structures need to be reviewed in a new way.

Youth information and counselling also has a strong European dimension. Information and counselling services targeted at young people are very visible in the recommendations issued to the Member States of the Council of Europe, as well as in the European Union’s Youth Strategy.

Youth information and counselling also has a European umbrella organisation, European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (ERYICA), which was founded in 1986. With its activities, ERYICA supports national, regional and local youth information and counselling services in 28 European countries. The services comprise more than 7,500 youth information and counselling points or centres, with the number of employees exceeding 13,000.

Koordinaatti is a member of ERYICA and therefore a representative of the entire national network in Europe. The Finnish Youth Co-Operation Allianssi also co-operates with ERYICA.